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the SOunDS OF AuS: the StOry OF the AuSSie Accent Presented by John ClArKe Directed by DAvID SwAnn Produced by ABC rrP for schools $88 reviewed by MIChAel DAnIel at some stage In my dIm, dark Past I received some training in voice production. The aim of such lessons was simple: to teach me to pronounce English correctly and curb or remove vulgar aspects of my accent. The formula was simple: correct pronunciation equals upper-class British pronunciation. An integral part of a person’s identity is not only the language that they speak but the accent in which they speak it. Often regarded as the most bizarre of all English accents and once something many Australians travelling overseas deliberately tried to hide, the Australian accent is now something of which most Australians are proud because it defi nes them as Australians. Ironically, the once derided accent is now an asset, since those who do not possess it fi nd it diffi cult to imitate, because of its vowel sounds, yet those who are masters of it have the pronunciation facility to imitate virtu- ally every other accent of English. In The Sounds of Aus: The story of the Aussie accent, John Clarke introduces the viewer to the history of the Australian accent, doing so by interviewing a range of guests, from academics to Australians of migrant backgrounds. Early in the docu- 64 teacher november 2008 mentary, Clarke explores a number of myths about the accent. One of the myths he challenges is that it was derived from the London Cockney or working-class accent. While the majority of convicts in the early years of the settlement of New South Wales were from the south-east of England, there would have been a number of accents and dialects amongst the population, some of which may have been almost indecipher- able by inhabitants who hailed from other parts of Britain. Based on recent research of accent formation, the theory the docu- mentary posits is that the prototype of the Australian accent emerged in the fi rst 20 to 30 years of European settlement and that the children on the First Fleet and subse- quent early fl eets of convict ships laid the foundations as they sought to speak to each other in an accent common to themselves that was not characterised primarily by their or their parent’s place of origin. By the 1880s, the writings of authors such as Henry Lawson and Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson clearly refl ect the existence of the broad Australian accent,whose exist- ence is also mirrored in a sound fi le of an elderly man born in 1870: while the accent is recognisable, it sounds somewhat milder than the current accent. In the decades after 1870, however, the Australian accent’s right to exist was challenged. The fi rst challenge, at the time of Fed- eration, came as a result of the push to be identifi ed as a part of the British Empire, which caused people to refi ne their accent. While the Australian accent enjoyed a revival during World War One, what is often called the ‘cultural cringe’ was to persist until the 1970s. Even in that decade, for example, radio and television broadcasters were either imported straight from Britain or else recruited from the ranks of Australian speakers – so long as they passed strict voice tests that expunged any obvious trace of an Australian accent. Perhaps one of the clearest indications of changing attitudes, and an acceptance of the Australian accent, was the renais- sance of the Australian fi lm industry, with fi lms such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzie in 1972, which revelled in the Aussie accent. Almost 10 years later, con- fi dent of Australia’s position in the English speaking world, the producers of Breaker Morant in 1980 refused to allow the fi lm to be dubbed with American accents for the United States audience. Whereas once a broad accent would have excluded peo- ple from the top ranks of professions, the accent is now to be heard from the lips of those on the top rungs of industry and the professions. The Sounds of Aus fi nishes by exploring Australian accents found among Indigenous and immigrant communities and the ways in which these communities have contributed to the formation of accents. Accompanying The Sounds of Aus is a well-produced and highly informative online study guide, which includes a com- prehensive summary of the material, some well-considered teaching and learning strat- egies and a quiz – with the answer key, so be careful about setting this one for home- work, unless you want your students fi nd the answers online. While the study notes suggest The Sounds of Aus would be an excellent resource for upper primary and junior secondary classes, many students at this level may fi nd some of the linguistic analysis beyond their scope. Furthermore, the linguistic and phonetic emphasis in the fi rst 10 minutes of the docu- mentary, such as the discussion of vowels in the Australian accent, may fail to gain the attention of younger students. If you were going to use The Sounds of Aus with younger students in a mainstream class, it would be worth presenting an edited version. Itwould, however, be an ideal resource for senior school English classes, and has already been used by some teachers at this level. T Michael E Daniel is a teacher at Camberwell Grammar School, Melbourne. To download The Sounds of Aus study guide, visit www.abc.net.au/program- sales/studyguide/Stg_Sounds.of.Aus.pdf